【The Rise of the Ugly Monster】 A Case of Miscommunication Born from Projecting One's Own Feelings

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"You've decided to do this with everything you've got... you've decided to defeat this absurdly massive whale no matter what, RIGHT!?"

Under a cold sky where light snow flickered... Emi's scream echoed!

(Uh I didn't decide that!?)

Dokugegon's scream echoed only within his own mind!

"I can't... defeat this thing alone! It's probably... as strong as my mother!!"

(Wait—what the hell kind of person is your mother anyway!?)

"But Dokugegon, your 'power'... it's surely a great match! It's frustrating, but... it's not me, it's you who must go! My... my intuition says so too!!"

(I don't want to risk my life in a fight based on 'intuition'!!)

And then!

Gishi, gishimishimishi, bakibakibaki!

Emi's 【Black Prop】 began to make an ominous sound!

Cracks began to appear along with the noise, and a pitch-black miasma started leaking out from them!

<<<OAAAAH...!!>>>

Feeling the give, the Land Whale began to pour even more strength into its jaw to close its mouth!

Bakibakibaki!!

The creaking of the 【Black Prop】 grew even louder!

Emi glanced at the cracks in the 【Black Prop】 and screamed!

"Just go already, Dokugegon!! The 【Black Prop】 won't hold much longer!!"

"N'eh!?"

And at the same time, Emi extended a single 【Black Tentacle】 toward Dokugegon!

The tip of it was shaped like a giant ladle... and it easily scooped up Dokugegon along with the poisonous liquid floating around him...

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

(UWAAAAAAAAAAAH!?)

With tremendous force, she launched Dokugegon straight into the Land Whale's mouth!

"The only thing I can do for you... is give you a push from behind...!"

As Dokugegon landed with a splash—poison and all—onto the Land Whale's tongue, Emi's regretful murmur reached his ears...!

(I didn't ask for that kind of help! YOU'RE LITERALLY PUSHING ME INTO HELL!!)

Just as Dokugegon hurriedly tried to regain his footing and turned around to flee back outside.

Bakiin!!

The 【Black Prop】 snapped with a sharp crack, almost at the exact same moment.

DOOOOOOOON!!!

And with a roar like a giant wall crashing down... the Land Whale's mouth closed.

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"N'EEEEEEEEH!?"

The giant mouth had closed.

The sheer wind pressure generated by that motion was absolutely staggering.

Pushed by the wind, Dokugegon bounced and tumbled across the soft, damp tongue, sliding deeper and deeper into the Land Whale's mouth.

When his speed finally slowed and he came to a stop... he scrambled to sit up and frantically looked around at his surroundings.

The interior of the Land Whale was enveloped in silence.

It was filled with a foul stench, and naturally, the ground beneath him was the Land Whale's pink flesh, which was incredibly grotesque.

Scattered haphazardly atop that grotesque flesh were sucked-in trees and the corpses of giant beasts.

And... despite being in an environment closed off from the outside world, the reason Dokugegon could see was... strangely, there was light.

Above his head, on the walls, and even around where Dokugegon was currently lying.

Countless... relatively giant things were writhing, and they were glowing yellow.

Thanks to that, despite being inside a body... the interior of the Land Whale seemed to maintain a constant level of brightness.

DOOOOOOOON!!!

And then, it happened!

Suddenly, the Land Whale's body leaped violently upward!

(Eh, it's Emi!)

Dokugegon immediately realized the cause.

His owner, Emi, who had sent him into this place, must be rampaging outside the Land Whale's body.

What she had just delivered was surely, so to speak, an uppercut.

How did he know?

Because the Land Whale's head had been launched violently upward.

However, that meant...

Currently, Dokugegon was lying around what a human would call the esophagus.

Because the head had leaped up, a slope had formed within the Land Whale's body...

"N'EEEEEEEEH!?"

Before he could even think of anything... Dokugegon began to roll further and further down into the depths of the Land Whale's body.